Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. The 2018 Utah primary elections are exactly four weeks from today.
It’s debate day in Utah! Romney has a massive lead over Kennedy. Utahns really like Count My Vote. Officials are scrambling to save the summit meeting between the U.S. and North Korea.
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TICK TOCK
- Today the last day to register to vote by mail for the 2018 primary election (5/29/2018)
- Tomorrow is the last day to change your party affiliation before the primary election (5/30/2018)
- 7 days until primary election mail-in ballots are sent to voters (6/5/2018)
- 14 days until in-person early primary voting begins (6/12/2018)
- 21 days until the final day to register to vote online or in person before the primary election (6/19/2018)
- 24 days until in-person early primary voting ends (6/22/2018)
- 28 days until the 2018 Primary Election (6/26/2018)
- 161 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 244 days until the first day of the 2019 Utah Legislature (1/28/2019)
- 889 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
PODCASTS
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HERE ARE THE STORIES WE’RE WATCHING TODAY
Romney leads Kennedy by a huge margin
Our exclusive poll shows Mitt Romney has a massive 43-point lead over his GOP primary challenger Mike Kennedy among likely GOP primary voters [Utah Policy].
Big support for Count My Vote
Our latest UtahPolicy.com survey finds 2/3rds of Utahns would vote for the Count My Vote initiative if it makes the November ballot. That support includes 53% support from Republican voters [Utah Policy].
Tepid debates
Here’s why you shouldn’t expect fireworks from today’s GOP primary debates [Utah Policy].
Rookie mistake
Our “Political Insiders” say Mike Kennedy’s decision to apologize to a Baptist minister who Mitt Romney called a “religious bigot” was an unforced political error [Utah Policy].
OTHER UTAH HEADLINES
- Josh Holt gets a heroes’ welcome after being released from a Venezuelan prison [Deseret News, Tribune, KUTV].
- Utah will certify which ballot initiatives will make the November ballot this week, but the courts will likely have the last say [Deseret News].
- The group opposed to the Count My Vote initiative filed a lawsuit to block the proposal from being placed on November’s ballot [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Utah lawmakers are worried the proposed Medicaid expansion ballot initiative would lead to a larger cost for the state if approved by voters in November [Associated Press].
- South Salt Lake officials say they expect to move forward on the stalled homeless shelter in that city [Deseret News].
- Weber County is suing opioid manufacturers and distributors [Tribune].
NATIONAL HEADLINES
- State of the midterms. Democrats are still favored to take control of the House after November’s midterm elections, even though the idea of a “blue wave” is fading [National Journal].
- Democrats still have a healthy lead in the generic Congressional ballot [FiveThirtyEight].
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks the U.S. Senate seat in Ohio currently held by Democrat Sherrod Brown may be in play [The Hill].
- Republicans want to get President Trump on the campaign trail ahead of the 2018 midterms to give a boost to GOP candidates [NBC News].
- How President Trump uses baseless conspiracy theories to erode trust in traditional institutions, including the media, to get a boost politically [New York Times].
- On again, off again, on again. A top North Korean official is on his way to the U.S. to continue talks about reviving a summit between Kim Jong Un and President Trump [Washington Post].
- Sen. Marco Rubio says North Korea “will not denuclearize” and calls that country’s current peaceful gestures “a show” [ABC News].
- Democrats are stealing a page from the GOP playbook and blaming President Trump for skyrocketing gasoline prices [Politico].
- U.S. officials lost track of nearly 1,500 immigrant children after they were placed in the homes of sponsors last year [CNN].
- Former President George H.W. Bush has been hospitalized for low blood pressure and fatigue [ABC News].
- Starbucks stores around the country will close for a few hours Tuesday afternoon so employees can take mandatory anti-bias training [CNN Money].
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
- 1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of the original U.S. colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th state.
- 1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th state.
- 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in the Atlanta Journal.
- 1953 – Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- 1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles.
- 1988 – President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
- 2004 – The National World War II memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington.
